[VIDEO] 1969 Corvette and Other Vehicles Crushed in the Philippines As Warning To Smugglers

We have to warn you this video has “graphic” images in it, at least if you’re a Corvette enthusiast.

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines recently celebrated the 166th founding anniversary of his country’s Bureau of Customs by crushing a 1969 Corvette Stingray convertible, along with 29 other high-profile smuggled vehicles, in an effort to send a powerful message.

Duterte, who is well known for his state-sanctioned executions of suspected drug dealers, ordered the destruction of the vehicles in an effort to deter smugglers in the future. He was said to be afraid drug gangs would wind up with the cars if they were allowed to be sold.

The cars were said to have been smuggled from the ports of Cebu, Davao, and Manila and were valued at 61.6 million Philippines dollars. Vehicle smuggling is rife in the Philippines where road taxes can be as high as 50 percent for cars worth more than $100,000.

The video, which was posted on the Presidential Communications Facebook page in the Philippines, shows two rows of vehicles lined up next to each other, the white Corvette roadster at the end of one row. You may want to look away as the bulldozer smashes several other vehicles before barreling down on the Stingray, with one of its tracks crushing the T-top bar and the other causing the hood to flip up. The dozer appears to be bouncing up and down on the Corvette in joy before shifting gears and starting to roll backwards for another crushing blow to the same vehicles, then moving over to get ready to take on the second row of vehicles.

Reaction to the crushing in the Philippines has been mixed, with some saying the Corvette should have gone to a museum and the Toyota Land Cruisers could have been used for the Presidential Security Group fleet, with still others saying this visual message could keep smugglers in line in the coming years.

So what do you think about this destruction of a classic Corvette in the name of sending an anti-crime message?

Mitch Talley has loved Corvettes since he was just 8 years old. He's owned 10 Corvettes since 1983, including examples from the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth generations. His goal is to own first, second, and seventh generation cars someday. He and his son, Chris, also a Corvette enthusiast, served as Captains of the 2014 Georgia Corvette Caravan.

Regardless of the make of the cars, it is the height of stupidity at a political level and this clown runs a country. Not sure what a Philippines dollar is really worth but 61.1 million of them could’ve been better used to help its own people.